Eight years ago, Al Groh was part of another up-and-coming team that
began a season with elevated expectations.
As defensive coordinator of the New England Patriots, he had arrived with head
coach Bill Parcells two years before. The Patriots had improved from 1-15 in
the year before their arrival to 5-11 to 10-6. Almost everyone anticipated
more improvement in 1995.
The talent was better, Groh recalls, but the players came to camp with a
different attitude.
“They started listening to fans, they started listening to media, they started
listening to themselves,” Groh recalled recently. “The ones who they stopped
listening to were the coaches. Guess where that team finished?”
The answer: 6-10.
Groh’s point, a timely one given his current team’s circumstances, is that
with success comes higher expectations, which are fine, and also the
possibility of bigger egos, which are not.
Whether his third Virginia football team falls prey to the same pitfalls of
success remains to be seen. Some answers may come tonight when the 18th-ranked
Cavaliers open a season of substantially raised expectations under the lights
at Scott Stadium.
Their opponent will be Duke, a team trying to end an embarrassing 25-game ACC
losing streak. But in a sense, they also will be taking on the challenge of
continuing their rapid ascent as a program.
Virginia welcomes back 18 starters from a team that was the surprise of the
ACC last season. Picked to finish eighth in the conference, the Cavaliers came
in second and won nine games, including the Continental Tire Bowl.
Senior quarterback Matt Schaub, the 2002 ACC player of the year, is one of
those returnees. But he knows it will be just as important to bring back the
intangible qualities — resolve, resilience, resourcefulness — that made last
year’s team so successful.
“It’s funny to think back and remember that no one picked us to do anything
last year, and now people are putting us in the top 10 or 20,” Schaub said.
“The thing we have to do is remember who we are.
“Last year we didn’t believe what other people told us because they were
trying, as coach said, to set our agenda for us. It’s the same thing this
year. They’re trying to do that again. It’s something we can’t pay attention
to. We just have to go out and win games.”
The Cavaliers won six of eight ACC games last season despite finishing last in
the conference in total offense and next-to-last in total defense. They did it
by forcing 37 turnovers while giving up just 22. They did it by committing the
fewest penalties of any ACC team. And they did it by finding a way to win
nearly every close game, including a string of second-half comeback victories.
In those respects, Groh said, “we need to make sure we’re who we were last
year.”
In many ways, the Cavaliers should be better. They are more experienced,
though 10 sophomores and a freshman are expected to be in the starting lineup.
They are bigger and faster, thanks to a productive offseason
strength-and-conditioning program and the addition of talented newcomers like
freshman linebacker Ahmad Brooks.
They also should be more confident. As Groh likes to say, confidence is the
result of demonstrated performance, and Schaub was one of many players who
performed at a high level last season.
“I think we all know what we can do, individually and collectively,” said
sophomore left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, who started every game as a true
freshman. “Until you actually play in a game, you’re ignorant as to what will
occur. A lot of young guys got some great experience last year. Now we can
take that knowledge and build on what we accomplished.”
Groh says he has not seen evidence that confidence has boiled over into
cockiness among his players. He has been largely pleased with their work ethic
and responsiveness to coaching.
“We’re not satisfied with what we did last year,” said sophomore linebacker
Darryl Blackstock. “We’re too focused for failure.”
Overconfidence should not be a problem against the Blue Devils, who return all
but two starters from a team that nearly beat Virginia last year.
“Any team demands your respect that plays as tough as Duke does,” said
sophomore right tackle Brad Butler. “They’re very smart and they play very
hard. They have, what, 22 starters back? They’re very experienced and they
want to win.”
A sellout crowd — or darn close to it — is expected to watch tonight’s game.
They will see the first signs of whether the Cavaliers are on their way to a
big year — or have just developed big heads.
“I don’t see it as being too much of a factor, but it’s definitely something
we have to confront,” Schaub said. “I think we have the right leaders on the
team — and the coaches to go with it — to keep those feelings in check.”
Everybody ran up, over, around and through Virginia’s rush defense last
season, sometimes as if it wasn’t even there. Through the first six games of
2002, opponents averaged 50 rushes per contest against the Cavaliers.
In fact, Florida State handed off 60 times and Wake Forest an amazing 68 times
against the Wahoos. Getting flattened like that must have driven head coach Al
Groh and defensive coordinator Al Golden whacko and they watched as team after
team pummeled UVa’s defense.
If there is one statement the Cavaliers want to make tonight, other than
beating Duke in the season opener, it’s that opposing offenses insisting upon
running the ball aren’t going to be on the field very long.
“We have to stop the run to play good defense,” said UVa junior defensive end
Chris Canty. “We’re trying to make other teams one dimensional this year and
to do that, we have to prove that we can stop the run on numerous occasions. I
believe this defense is up to that challenge.”
Stalwart defense
Groh knows that if Virginia is to challenge for the ACC title and hold onto
some of its lofty preseason rankings, then the defense is going to have to
come through.
There’s reason for the coach to feel good about his defense coming into this
season, a lot better than at this same stage a year ago.
“Last year we started that [Colorado State] game with a lot of guys who had
never played,” Groh said. “We started with three defensive linemen who had
never played, an outside linebacker who had never played.
“Now, everybody who is starting off except for [inside linebacker] Ahmad
Brooks has considerable playing time,” Groh said. “And Ahmad brings
considerable talent to the position. There’s a lot of playing experience that
has been gained, a lot of size has been gained, and a lot of confidence has
been gained.”
The confidence stems from the end of last season when the Cavs won three of
their last four games against nationally ranked opponents and shut down three
of those offenses, all rated among the nations’s top 20.
Back for more
Most of those players are back, including six of the top seven defensive
linemen, both starting cornerbacks and one of the strongest linebacking corps
in the ACC.
Even quarterback Matt Schaub has noticed the difference in this defense as
opposed to last season, while he has practiced against them every day.
“They’re a smart group,” Schaub said. “They’re very intense and a defense that
sticks together. To be really good, defenses have to be able to stick together
and trust each other.”
One of the corners, senior Muffin Curry, has talked at length about how the
secondary hangs together off the field. Every phase of the defense supports
the other groups. But there’s more to this defense than just experience.
“At this point, I think our defense is faster than it has been since I’ve been
here,” said senior outside linebacker Raymond Mann. “It’s also stronger and
bigger. Everybody knows their assignments better, so I think it will be a much
more cohesive unit.”
As cohesive as it was toward the end of last season?
“I think it will be like that,” Mann said. “It might be even better than
that.”
Last year in Durham, the Blue Devils rushed 47 times against the Cavs for 158
yards. Both of Duke’s top running backs return in Chris Douglas and Alex Wade.
They are the most experienced tandem of backs in the ACC and both finished
among the top seven rushers in the league a year ago.
“Right off the bat we want to show everybody that we’re a lot more physical
this year,” said sophomore safety Willie Davis. “We’re a lot more physical, a
lot faster and a lot more talented in every area.”
Canty believes this defense has the ability to do so if they can replace the
leadership that last year’s squad received from Angelo Crowell, Merrill
Robertson and Jerton Evans. He thinks all the other pieces are in place.
Here and now
But it all starts with stopping Duke’s running game tonight.
“They’re big up front and they’re going to try to bludgeon us,” Canty said. “I
think our front seven is up to the task. They have very good backs. Wade is
250 pounds, so you know his running style. Douglas is mult-talented. He can
split out and play receiver, run on toss sweeps, likes to run a lot of zone
stretch plays. They’re two very different backs that I like to call Thunder
and Lightning.”
Golden has waited so long to load up his defense with talent, he is hoping all
the storm-like conditions are caused by his side of the ball.
Tonight’s story line could be the offensive line
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© August 30, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE — They ran the ball with tenacity, plugging away, even when the
holes weren’t there.
They ran it with creativity, spreading the defense and running out of what
appeared to be passing formations.
But rarely last season did the Virginia Cavaliers simply line up and run the
ball the way coaches love, with old-fashioned physical dominance at the line of
scrimmage.
“We need to do a better job of running the ball with authority,” coach Al Groh
said. “It’s one of the big challenges that faces the team, and one of the big
challenges that faces the offensive line.”
The challenge begins tonight, when No. 18 Virginia opens the season against Duke
at Scott Stadium. Yes, this is the same Duke program that has dropped 25
straight ACC contests. But it’s also the team that held Virginia to 2 rushing
yards last year — an afternoon on which Virginia’s line exerted all the
“authority” of a substitute teacher on the last day of school.
“It was tough,” guard Brian Barthelmes recalled. “They brought a lot of guys up
in the hole.”
The Blue Devils led the ACC in rushing defense last year, allowing just 120.5
yards per game. With nine defensive starters back, Duke should present a strong
challenge to a Virginia offensive line that has pledged to be more physical this
year.
The potential for improvement appears to be there; all five players who started
Virginia’s final game last season return. As a unit they are bigger, stronger
and, most importantly, a year older. Three of last year’s starters were
freshmen.
Tackles D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Brad Butler, both true freshmen last year,
have added 40 pounds between them. Ferguson is up to 270, while Butler goes
around 290.
Barthelmes, also in the 290 range, has had added bulk and strength as well.
Guard Elton Brown has toned up and “slimmed” down, to 325.
Brown, a junior, has noticed the difference in his young linemates. “They’re
really finishing blocks now,” he said. “I saw it in the spring. And I’m seeing
it a lot more now.”
The line’s development is the continuation of a process that began late last
season. After averaging just 108 yards rushing in the first 10 games, Virginia
averaged 174 yards over the final four.
It all culminated with a 39-carry, 195-yard performance in a 48-22 win over West
Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl. Tailback Wali Lundy led the way with 127
yards on 22 carries.
Lundy, just a sophomore, is back. So are tailbacks Alvin Pearman and Marquis
Weeks, each of whom has a 100-yard game on his resume, and speedy sophomore
Michael Johnson.
“We’ve got the backs. We’ve got the schemes,” Barthelmes said. “After getting
some maturity and some muscle put on, now we’ve just got to go out and do it.”
Easier said than done against a team that devotes so many resources to stuffing
the run. Duke’s pass defense was another story, ranking 102nd in the nation last
year. But the Blue Devils held East Carolina to 25 rushing yards, Florida State
to 113 on 32 carries, North Carolina State to 63 and Clemson to 59.
“That’s a very underrated team. That’s a good ballclub over there,” Brown said.
“A lot of people take ’em for granted, but when you step on the field with them,
their purpose is the same as yours.”
Duke’s purpose this year is to finally win some of the close games it dropped
last year. It lost five by a touchdown or less, including the 27-22 decision to
Virginia.
Groh has said frequently that the Blue Devils of this year remind him of his
2002 team.
“Not a lot of hype coming into the season, and all they’re talking about is
winning,” Groh said.
The players have received the message, Brown said.
“I know their focus in the offseason was to win this year,” Brown said. “We’re
their first chance. So we’ve got to come out on top our game.”
The naked truth about Hokies, Cavs |
By
DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES
When I was a younger guy and before I had an image to uphold, I used to marvel at the preseason football forecasts that appeared in Playboy magazine.
No college football fan was disappointed because no team was ever picked to go worse than 7-4. One year, I totalled all the predicted records and the teams were a combined 100 games over .500.
I'm not sure if Playboy still does its forecasts the same way. The sports editor informs me that he gave this month's Playboy to the outdoors editor.
Whatever happened to Field&Stream?
To outdoors editor MARK TAYLOR's credit, he was able to produce an unopened Playboy and I was able to confirm that Virginia had been picked fourth and Virginia Tech was seventh in what Playboy bills as "the ultimate college football preview."
The magazine also has an interview with O.J. Simpson and some other stuff I can't remember.
I bring up Playboy because that is the highest I've seen anybody pick the Cavaliers, although word has it that Sporting News talk-show host Tim Brando has the Cavaliers playing Miami for the national championship in the Sugar Bowl.
"I think that pick by Tim must have been made sometime after midnight," UVa coach Al Groh said.
ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit has predicted that Virginia Tech will meet Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl, while the New York Times this week picked Tech second in the country behind Auburn.
Surely, if you look hard enough, you can find somebody who has the Hokies and Cavaliers playing for the national championship.
My argument with Brando and Herbstreit is the same as it always was with Playboy. Does anybody take into account who these teams play?
For either Virginia or Virginia Tech to play for the national championship, it would have to go no worse than 11-1 during the regular season. I can't see it.
Virginia must play N.C. State, Maryland, North Carolina and Clemson on the road. If the Cavaliers survive that gantlet, they've got Virginia Tech and Florida State in Charlottesville. No way they get through those six games with one loss, much less go 6-0 against the rest of the schedule.
Tech's three toughest road games are at Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Virginia. The first two of those teams won in Blacksburg last year. The Hokies lost on the road last year to Miami and Syracuse, two of the teams that come to Lane Stadium. So does traditional power Texas A&M.
There is a reason, at preseason media days, that Tech was picked third in the Big East and Virginia was picked fourth in the ACC. The Big East has seldom been better and the ACC, despite opening-night losses by Maryland and Georgia Tech, has depth behind Florida State.
I think Virginia has a better team than last year's, but won't have as good a record. Mark the Cavaliers down for 8-5. I look for the Hokies to go 10-3, matching last year's victory total in one fewer game. Pitt will beat them, either West Virginia or Virginia will beat them, and Tech will lose once at home.
The Hokies' offensive line needs to prove it can open holes for Kevin Jones, and Tech needs to find a third dependable wide receiver behind Ernest Wilford and two-way star DeAngelo Hall. UVa has proven receivers in tailback Wali Lundy and tight end Heath Miller, but a productive wideout would help.
UVa and Tech have been playing football for more than 100 years and only three times have each finished in the final Associated Press poll, all in the last 10 years (1995, 1998 and 2002). It should happen again this year and, if they live up to their preseason rankings, No.9 Virginia Tech and No.18 UVa need make no apologies.
Blue Devils look familiar to Groh
Al Groh sees similarities between this year's Duke team and his 2002 Cavs.
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES
No one who was in attendance at Wallace Wade Stadium last Oct.5 could have
argued that Duke and Virginia were not evenly matched.
The Blue Devils caused UVa coach Al Groh plenty of aggravation that day, and
almost all of them are back heading into the teams' football opener in
Charlottesville at 7 tonight.
"We played a lot of games last year that weren't as challenging or as difficult
as that one," said Groh, whose Cavaliers prevailed 27-22 in a game that was tied
after three quarters.
According to research conducted by The Sporting News, no other Division I-A
program has as many returning starters as the Blue Devils, 22, including both
specialists. Virginia is one of five schools tied for second with 19.
"I think this team that we're playing this week, this is us last year," Groh
said. "Not a lot of hype coming into the season. They've got a lot of veteran,
determined players who want to finish on a high note. Sounds a lot like what was
coming out of our camp last year."
"The critical issue there is not what's going on with Duke; it's what's going on
with us. We've got to make sure that we're who we were last year."
The Cavaliers overcame an 0-2 start to finish 9-5, including a 48-22 victory
over West Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl. Duke went 2-10 and carries a
record 25-game ACC losing streak into the 2003 season.
Duke lost five games by five points or fewer. Virginia won four games by five
points or fewer.
"I think that's what records are made of," Groh said. "If you can win those kind
of games, you have a good season. And, if you have a good season, you have a
good team.
"There's no lock on that happening every week. Once you start doing it, there's
a confidence level a team gets, but I worked for a guy once [Bill Parcells] who
said, 'You are what you are.' Nobody's the weakest 10-2 team in the country or
the strongest 2-10 team."
UVa ranked 80th out of 117 Division I-A teams in total offense and 100th in
total defense. They won five games in which they were outgained by the
opposition, including a 414-317 yardage deficit against Duke.
The Blue Devils held UVa to a season-low 2 yards in net rushing and led the ACC
in rushing defense with an average yield of 120.5 yards.
"If that's where a team wants to put its commitment, you can make it pretty hard
for anybody to run the ball," Groh said. "It was a combination of Duke [having]
a real strong commitment and, at that stage, we hadn't demonstrated the ability
to run with authority."
Matt Schaub passed for 315 yards against the Blue Devils, including 181 in the
fourth quarter.
"Defensively, you have to be able to take away something from another team and
we want to be able to stop the run," Duke coach Carl Franks said, "but we don't
need to be No.1 against the run and last against the pass again.
"If we play the run as well as we did last year and Schaub throws the ball as
well as he did, it's going to be a long night for us."
Franks, who has a 5-40 record in four years at Duke, doesn't buy all the talk
about Duke being this year's Virginia.
"We were very similar last year in that we played a lot of close games," Franks
said. "The similarities ended there. They've learned how to win the close games.
We've still got to see if we can do that."
Cavs giving Devils their due
U.Va. wary of ACC's worst program
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Aug 30, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE - Northern Illinois ambushed 15th-ranked Maryland on Thursday
night, a turn of events surely not lost on the No.18 Virginia Cavaliers.
Their opponent in tonight's season opener at Scott Stadium has dropped 25
consecutive ACC games. But the Cavaliers were wary of Duke early in the week,
and they're no doubt more so after Maryland's defeat.
"I think everybody in the ACC is learning not to take Duke lightly," U.Va.
junior tailback Alvin Pearman said Monday. "We know they're a quality football
team. In the past, things just really haven't gone their way."
The Blue Devils' last win over an ACC opponent came Nov. 13, 1999, when they
beat visiting Wake Forest 48-35. Of Duke's eight conference losses last season,
however, four were by five points or fewer. The Devils fell 23-21 to North
Carolina, 24-22 to N.C. State, 34-31 to Clemson and 27-22 to U.Va.
Against the Cavaliers, Duke had the ball with a chance to win in the final
minute. That's one reason why Virginia's third-year coach, Al Groh, believes his
players have the proper respect for the Devils.
"We played a lot of games last year that weren't as challenging or as difficult
as that one," Groh said. "And secondly, I think this team that we're playing
this week, this is us last year. Not a lot of hype coming into the season. All
they're talking about is winning. . . . It sounds a lot like what was coming out
of our camp last year."
A season ago, U.Va. was picked to place eighth in the ACC. Instead, it tied for
second with Maryland and finished 9-5 overall. Duke, as usual, is picked to
finish last in the ACC, but fifth-year coach Carl Franks believes his team is
poised for a breakthrough.
The Blue Devils return 11 starters on offense and nine on defense. Duke ranked
No. 1 among ACC teams - and No. 28 nationally - in rushing defense last season,
holding opponents to an average of 120.5 yards.
Virginia's veterans will attest to the prowess of the Devils' 2002 run defense.
The Cavaliers netted 2 yards rushing at Wallace Wade Stadium. With 14 yards on
five carries, tailback Wali Lundy was the leading rusher for U.Va., whose
quarterback, Matt Schaub, was sacked twice for 25 yards in losses.
"Two yards rushing, that's kind of pitiful," Virginia offensive guard Elton
Brown said.
In three of its final four games last season, U.Va. had a rusher gain at least
127 yards. For the year, though, the Cavaliers ranked seventh in the ACC in
rushing offense (126.9 yards). With its top four tailbacks from 2002 back, along
with both tight ends and four offensive linemen who started eight games or more,
Virginia's running game should be improved.
"We don't have any choice but to make it better," said Ron Prince, U.Va.'s new
offensive coordinator. "We can't sustain winning and can't support our defense
the way we want to support it without a power running game."
Last season was Duke's first with Ted Roof at defensive coordinator, and his
system emphasized one thing above all else.
"We just felt it was important to take away the run and make people
one-dimensional," Franks said. "But that means we've got to be better in the
secondary and get a pass rush."
A near-sellout crowd is expected at 61,500-seat Scott Stadium. Virginia opened
at home last season, too, losing 35-29 to Colorado State before 57,1200. Groh
had expected his team to play better and was sorely disappointed in the outcome.
Tonight, Groh said: "I want to see us play well, obviously, but I'm really just
interested in getting one more [point] than the other guys get. If we get that,
we're happy."
NOTE: U.Va. offensive lineman Kevin Bailey will suit up tonight, but Groh saidd
he would prefer not to play the 6-6, 293-pound senior. Bailey is coming off a
knee injury that forced him to miss the final 12 games last season. He was the
Cavs' No. 1 center before his injury and he also can play tackle.
Lots of catching up to do at U.Va.
Cavs must depend on young receivers
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published August 30, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Matt Schaub says he isn't worried. Then again, what's he
going to say? That there isn't one proven receiver on Virginia's football
roster? That how this group develops over the next three months will go a long
way toward defining the Cavaliers' season?
Both statements would be dead-on. The loss of all-time leading receiver Billy
McMullen, Schaub's security blanket last year, put the Cavaliers in a hole. Then
came Michael McGrew's season-ending broken leg on Aug. 12, which cost U.Va. its
best wideout.
So going into tonight's opener against Duke, Virginia has a clear area of
concern.
"We've got fast guys who can run these pass routes," coach Al Groh said. "I
don't know if they can make those catches Billy made."
The five receivers listed on this week's depth chart - Ottowa Anderson, Art
Thomas, Ryan Sawyer, Ron Morton and Marques Hagans - combined for 29 catches
last season.
Seventeen of those were by Anderson, a junior who played primarily in the three-wideout
set. Eleven were by Sawyer, with six of those coming in two games.
Hagans was Schaub's backup at quarterback, though he saw a handful of plays at
receiver, mostly in gimmick situations. Thomas was a cornerback whose playing
time had all but vanished by the end of the season. Morton spent 2002 learning
the system as a redshirt.
In truth, Virginia might have more speed at the position than ever. And Schaub,
who set a bushel of passing records last season, insists the receiving corps
"has come a long way." Still, there isn't a strong resume in the bunch.
"We're going to surprise a lot of people," Anderson said. "We've been working
hard since the spring, and it's showing on the field. Art's made a smooth
transition from corner to receiver. Everybody thinks we're the (soft) spot of
the team now, but I know we're going to play good."
Even before McGrew's injury, Anderson knew he would have to step up his play. At
6 feet and 195 pounds, he has demonstrated decent hands and average speed in two
years in Groh's system. He has provided moments, like when he turned a short
pass into a 35-yard touchdown last year against North Carolina, but no
consistency.
Sawyer could emerge as Schaub's possession receiver. Of his 11 catches, 10 went
for first downs. When McMullen was injured on the sixth play of the Continental
Tire Bowl, Sawyer filled in and caught four passes. Each moved the chains.
Morton is one of the team's fastest players, though Groh didn't give a glowing
report a couple weeks ago when he said, "In every phase of the game, he needs to
bring it along faster." Hagans is a classic playmaker - he touched the ball
twice in the Tire Bowl and accounted for two touchdowns - but has never played
the position.
The most intriguing receiver is Thomas, who is expected to start tonight with
Anderson. At 6-feet-2, he is, according to Groh, "the first size-speed guy we've
had." Then again, as Groh recently noted, "his speed is more consistent than his
hands."
Also in the mix, eventually, will be a pair of true freshmen. Fontel Mines, who
at 6-5 draws comparisons to McMullen, was rated the nation's 15th-best prep
receiver by one recruiting service. Deyon Williams has good size at 6-3 and was
a champion hurdler in high school.
As he did last year, Schaub will spread the ball around. Wali Lundy had 58
catches, tops among ACC tailbacks, and tight end Heath Miller added 33.
With a veteran offensive line and four quality tailbacks, the Cavs are expected
to put more emphasis on their running game. Lundy rushed for 338 yards in the
last three games of '02.
Still, Virginia needs its unproved receivers to mature and quickly. The question
is, will they?
"I don't think we'll really have a clear answer on that until we see them play
in a game," Groh said. I've seen them practice plenty, and I've seen a number of
them play in a game before. That progress will only be measured by how they
perform Saturday night. I have positive expectations of that, but they still
need to step up and do that."
Duke eyes Cavs' past role as ACC sleeper
BY BRYAN STRICKLAND : The Herald-Sun
bstrickland@heraldsun.com
Aug 30, 2003 : 1:05 am ET
For the Duke Blue Devils last season, it was close but no cigar.
The Virginia Cavaliers, on the other hand, collected enough cigars to stock a
sizable humidor.
The Blue Devils were picked last in the ACC in 2002 and did indeed finish last,
though four of their ACC losses were by five points or fewer.
The Cavaliers were picked next-to-last in the league but surprised everyone by
finishing next-to-first, claiming four of their ACC victories by -- you guessed
it -- five or fewer points.
Again this season, Duke has been picked last in the league. But when the Blue
Devils open their season tonight at Virginia, Cavs coach Al Groh expects to see
a familiar sight.
"Their team reminds me of us," said Groh, whose team was picked fourth this
season. "I see Duke coming into the season the same way as us last year -- a
team that played some good ball the year before but wasn't always rewarded by
the outcome and had a lot of players of resolve and determination coming back."
But before Duke could dare dream of a season like Virginia enjoyed in 2002, the
Blue Devils must fulfill a seemingly simple but equally elusive dream: They need
to win a close game -- preferably an ACC game. The Devils have dropped a record
25 straight ACC games.
"We were very similar last year in that we played a lot of close games, but the
similarities ended there," Duke coach Carl Franks said. "They've learned how to
win the close games; now we've got to see if we can do that.
"We would anticipate that it would be another close game and another chance to
gain some confidence."
While Duke is looking for the type of victory that could create some momentum,
the Cavaliers enter the season still riding last year's wave of momentum.
Expectations are high in Charlottesville after the Cavaliers picked up victories
late last season over N.C. State, Maryland and West Virginia.
Playboy magazine's college football preview ranked Virginia No. 4 in the nation,
and CBS commentator Tim Brando took it a step further, predicting the Cavs would
play in the national-championship game.
"Tim must have made the pick after midnight," Groh said. "But it's a great
environment around here right now.
"A good indication would be if Charlottesville sets a record for the selling of
orange body paint. That will be an indication that we're headed in the right
direction."
The Cavs were picked so low in the ACC last season in part because of their
youth, and they're still one of the younger teams in the country. But their
leader, quarterback Matt Schaub, is a senior, and he typifies the Cavaliers'
knack for coming back.
Last season, Schaub came back from being benched following the season opener to
become the ACC's player of the year. This year, he's been mentioned as a Heisman
Trophy candidate.
"He started the Colorado State game and almost got booed off the field, but he
fought his way back," Franks said. "Here's a guy who was the player of the year
in the ACC, but he started the year with just an awful game.
"To have that happen to him, at home, do you know how down he had to be after
that game? To fight back from that and be player of the year, that's pretty
incredible."
Duke is fielding essentially the same team that went 2-10 last season, including
a 27-22 loss to Virginia. The Blue Devils showed tremendous improvement over
their performances during their back-to-back winless seasons, but it didn't
always show up on the scoreboard.
Several of last year's close losses felt like moral victories; this season,
there won't be such a thing as moral victories.
"We all want a lot more out of this year," quarterback Adam Smith said. "We
expect big things, and we've been working hard toward those things.
"Our standards are a lot higher. We're all playing to win games."
Lundy Shows Survival Skills
Serious Illness, Loss of Parents Tested U-Va. Tailback
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, August 30, 2003; Page D01
CHARLOTTESVILLE
Wali Lundy almost didn't make it this far. He almost didn't become one of the
nation's young promising tailbacks, dashing ACC rookie records and helping the
Virginia Cavaliers earn preseason hype and a No. 18 ranking. That's because Wali
Lundy almost didn't survive the spring of 1997.
He was 13 then, lying in a hospital bed, shriveled to less than 100 pounds
because of an illness doctors were having trouble diagnosing. Years earlier his
parents lay in similar hospital beds, visited as he was by a procession of
relatives and friends. Brian and Joann Lundy died four years apart, before any
of their four sons finished grade school. But Wali Lundy recovered.
A specialist in Philadelphia discovered that his intestines were being blocked
by scar tissue from an emergency appendectomy he had undergone as a toddler. The
scar tissue was removed and Lundy returned to eighth grade near the end of the
school year. A few months later he made the varsity football team as a freshman.
"In another week, he would have been gone, but we got that second opinion," said
his brother, Mikal, a 22-year-old tailback at Towson University. "To see him
from where he was in that position to now: Oh wow. It's definitely a blessing. .
. . That's why I just get so happy when I see him on TV, playing football.
Because I know he shouldn't be here."
Wali Lundy, 19, won't be on TV in tonight's season opener against Duke, but he
will be playing football, cheered on by three or four carloads of family and
friends from New Jersey. He is the Cavaliers' starting tailback after leading
the nation's freshmen last season with 1,670 all-purpose yards, and a preseason
candidate for the Doak Walker Award given annually to the country's best running
back. "I think he certainly feels a lot more confident," Virginia Coach Al Groh
said. "Just by conversation I've had with Wali, he feels a lot more comfortable
about everything. About his skills, about his sense of the purpose of different
plays, anticipation of how the defense is going to react and most particularly
about his strength and his stamina, which -- because of a year's more maturity
and training -- are significantly beyond what they were last year."
Yet most of Lundy's relatives probably care little about the details of his play
on the field. Sure, they're proud. Just check out the "No. 33" T-shirts they
plan to wear tonight at Scott Stadium. But Lundy's family and friends are most
proud that he, like his brothers before him, has a promising future and is in
line for a college degree.
That wasn't necessarily a given when Brian Lundy, Wali's father, died of a
stroke 15 years ago at age 30. His widow and young sons lived in a section of
New Brunswick, N.J., that had its share of violence and street life temptation.
Temptation, the Lundy family says, Brian at times found hard to resist. Near the
end of his life, Brian began to join his family in worship at the Second Baptist
Church, but for a while, senior pastor Donald Hilliard Jr. said, he lived "a
little on the rough side." Another Lundy relative was in and out of jail,
succumbing to similar temptation.
Wali Lundy and his brothers could have followed a similar path, but their
mother, Joann, and their grandmother, Etta Davis, steered them toward sports and
the church, using others' experiences as examples of how not to live.
"We had some family relatives who were subjected to [street life] and didn't
have the same ways we had out," said Jamaal Lundy, 23, who is pursuing a pro
football career after graduating from the University of Connecticut. "Didn't
have the same outlets we had and ended up in jail and stuff like that. We'd seen
that . . . in our own family."
Working as a computer technician and a single mother, Joann Lundy moved her sons
to Willingboro, a smaller city in southern New Jersey. She "was a woman of great
wisdom and . . . a very godly, well-grounded woman that kept those children in
church," Hilliard said. But in 1991, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She
died in February 1992.
"Something so tragic happens in your life, you can't just stay on the ground.
You gotta get back up," said Wali Lundy, who was 81/2 when his mother died. "It
just makes you fight. All my brothers and my grandma were there to support me."
Etta Davis and her husband, Frank, had taken care of Joann and the boys during
her illness, and they became their grandsons' guardians after her death.
"I didn't want them separated," said Davis, now 74. "My daughter didn't want
them separated. She wanted me to raise them. Somebody said I was too old, me and
my husband, but I said, 'I do know there are a lot of young [mothers] and they
don't know where their children are at night.' "
Davis knew where they were at night. "My grandma was more from the old school.
So she was a little stricter," said Shaheed Lundy, 24, a Rutgers University
graduate.
The family traded Willingboro for a yet smaller New Jersey town -- Florence --
where Wali followed the lead of his older brothers and began making headlines in
football and basketball. His freshman season, the Florence High football team
featured Lundys wearing jersey Nos. 1-4: Jamaal, Mikal, first cousin Najee (now
a junior defensive back at Kent State) and Wali. Soon Wali was following those
three teammates into college football.
"[My brothers] were real important, because with my mom and dad not being
around, they told me some things not to do. They told me where I should go, who
I should hang out with," said Wali Lundy, who spent his junior and senior years
at Holy Cross High School in Delran, N.J. "They were always pushing me harder
than they would push each other because they knew I was the youngest. They would
pick on me a little bit 'cause I was the youngest, but they would also look out
for me the most."
A coterie of aunts, uncles and cousins -- most of whom lived nearby -- provided
additional support for Lundy, as did Hilliard and the church. They couldn't
replace his parents, but they could help Lundy grow up without them.
"I don't remember a lot about my dad," Lundy said. "My mom I remember a little,
but not as much as I want to. It's hard not for them to be around. Like I said,
you have to just get back up, keep motivated."
Duke will see if it is any better by taking on Schaub, Virginia
By Bill Cole
JOURNAL REPORTER
Armed with experience and growing confidence, Duke will have an opportunity
today to end more than three years of ACC misery when it opens its season at
Virginia.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, and Duke
will be trying to end a 25-game ACC losing streak, the longest in conference
history.
Coach Carl Franks said that his team has the smarts, strength and drive to give
Duke its first ACC win since Nov. 13, 1999. But the Blue Devils must contain
Matt Schaub, one of college football's top quarterbacks, and a Cavaliers team
considered capable of winning the conference title.
Duke finished 2-10 last season, with five losses - including four in ACC play -
by five points or less.
'Our guys feel that they gained a lot of confidence from last year in being able
to play with a lot of people,' Franks said. 'We had not been in that situation
before, where we had been as competitive as we were last year.
'Now we've got to get in a close game and win it. That's probably what needs to
happen for our team.'
Schaub will present a multitude of problems for Duke and for most other teams
that Virginia will play. He was booed by Virginia's fans in last season's opener
and was replaced by a freshman. But Schaub recovered and passed for 2,976 yards
and 28 touchdowns, completed 68.9 percent of his passes and was named the ACC
player of the year.
Trying to stop him will be a Blue Devils secondary that has four returning
starters but also has lingering questions. The Blue Devils' pass defense was
last in the ACC last season.
In last year's Duke-Virginia game, the Blue Devils allowed only 2 yards rushing,
but Schaub passed for 315 yards - including 181 in the fourth quarter - and a
touchdown to spark a 27-22 win.
Virginia will be without its top two receivers from last season - one is in the
NFL, and the other is out for the season with a broken leg - but safety Terrell
Smith said that the Duke secondary can't become flustered again.
'You look at the stats, and it's obvious that the secondary was the weak link,'
Smith said. 'We worked hard this summer and in the spring to improve upon that.
This year our goal is to show everybody we're the strong link.'
Tailback Chris Douglas has recovered from an ankle injury that hampered him last
season. He and fullback Alex Wade will run behind a big offensive line, and
Franks said he's hopeful that Duke's running game can produce long,
time-consuming drives that keep Schaub off the field.
Duke reminds Coach Al Groh of Virginia of his team last season. The 2001
Cavaliers went 5-7 and lost several close games, but the returning players were
determined to improve and did, going 9-5 last season.
'I worked for a guy once, and he made what I think is a simple statement, but
it's a pretty profound statement if you let it stand at its face value,' Groh
said. 'It's 'You are what you are.' Nobody's the weakest 10-2 team in the
country and nobody's the best 2-10 team in the country.'